Machine Learning, Big Data analytics, Artificial Intelligence have made the space of DigitalHealth even more interesting. Emerging markets like India are taking on these learning and bringing exciting business models. This blog is about Dr Dass's involvement in such projects and case studies. more on www.healthcursor.com

Thursday, 19 December, 2013

‘Mobility poised to play a significant role in healthcare’: Dr. Ruchi
Dass, Founder & CEO, HealthCursor Consulting Group

An mHealth Evangelist, and Founder & CEO, HealthCursor
Consulting Group Dr. Ruchi Dass, has been involved in specific healthcare IT,
e-learning and ICT projects for the public/private sector in India.

In an exclusive interview with InformationWeek, she discusses
how mobile phones have transformed the entire healthcare landscape and shares
how mobile technology is propelling innovation in healthcare.

According to you, how is mobile phone penetration transforming
healthcare landscape in India?

While the Government is building
more and more hospitals, the gap between the patient-doctor ratio is huge. For
the next 20 years, the infrastructure will not be able to match the growing
population of India. Hence, the next step is to create a model where one
hospital supplies its service to 10 -15 nearby villages through the use of
technology. Technology facilitates remote patient monitoring, enables safe data
collection and dissemination, while reducing service costs. To give a
data point, every citizen in rural area has to travel a distance of 20
kilometers to avail healthcare facility. The need is to decrease the travel
time, decrease the cost and make it more affordable and convenient. For this,
the government started disseminating information and awareness through mobile
phones. It also started educating rural citizens about the various free
campaigns being conducted in their district. Also, today the mobile
phones worth only Rs 5,000-6,000 have smartphone capabilities. One can run apps
that tell us if a person has got flu or not. This has empowered the rural population
too.